A Florida elementary school principal is under investigation after she repeatedly beat one of her students with a paddle, citing it was punishment over a damaged computer.

Video of the disturbing event circulated on social media which showed Melissa Carter, head of Central Elementary School in Clewiston, bending a child over and hitting her with a wooden paddle.

 

According to WINK News, the Clewiston Police Department turned the investigation over to the State Attorney’s Office for the 20th Judicial Circuit, while school district authorities voiced Carter’s actions went directly against the anti-corporal punishment policy.

“The hatred with which she hit my daughter, I mean it was a hatred that, really I’ve never hit my daughter like she hit her,” the girl’s mom, who asked to remain unidentified, told the outlet in Spanish. “I had never hit her.”

“If your mom wants to come up to the school and spank you and we can watch, that’s going to happen,” Clark can be heard telling the student who weighs around 40 pounds.

The mother said that her child has suffered psychological and emotional damage as well as physical bruises caused by the paddle.

A lawyer representing the family claims the principal resorted to “aggravated battery.”

“They’re using a weapon that can cause severe physical, harm,” attorney Brent Probinsky added. “The child is terrified, she feels vulnerable. There’s nothing she can do in the hands of these adults, who treated her so brutally, savagely, sadistically,”

On April 13, the woman said she was called to the school to discuss disciplinary steps over child’s alleged damage to a school computer, resulting in a $50 fee. The woman said she misunderstood the magnitude of what was to take place due to the language barrier.

When she arrived at the school  to pay the fee she found her daughter, the principal and a school clerk waiting inside of the principal’s office.

Once inside she said Carter began to raise her voice and she was frightened, unaware of what was would happen next.

The woman said she eventually hid her phone inside her purse so that she could record Carter. She recorded the beating because she was afraid no one would believe her and noticed there were no surveillance cameras as a back up.

“I sacrificed my daughter, so all parents can realize what’s happening in this school,” the mother continued.

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